


The Story Begins

by BlueNerdBird



Series: Angsty Vellan Timeline [2]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Gen, Secret Relationship, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-25 21:36:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17129156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueNerdBird/pseuds/BlueNerdBird
Summary: The daughter of a famed warrior family, Caitris Vellan, prepares for her arranged wedding. Things don’t go as planned.





	The Story Begins

“Are you ready for this Caitris?” as her brother’s unusually concerned voice piped up, she felt her breathing calm.

“No, but what choice do I have?” she replied, her voice unusually cold and stoic as she awaited the return of her parents.

“Oh, you never know,” she noticed the shift in his voice to mask apprehension, “I could grab the chickens from the yard and let them loose in the estate again,” he said with a laugh, and for a moment her mask slipped, and she grinned slightly.

“Careful brother, or mother will arrange your marriage next,” she replied, half in joking, but it came across more serious than she intended. She attempted to keep her voice just quiet enough for the nobles to ignore them, but she knew that they all had their eyes on her.

“Sorry Cait,” he replied, and she kicked herself upon seeing her brother’s bright eyes dimmed.

“It’s not your fault.”

“Isn’t it though?” he replied, and she felt a twist in her stomach. As her breathing quickened, she pulled her brother more to the side, away from some of the nobles that had started to stare.

“There was no way to know that Ari worked for our parents,” Caitris said softly.

“It should be me taking the hit, not you,” he replied. “Have you thought of ways to get around the marriage?”

“I’ve thought of everything. I’ve had a bag packed for days, but I’m afraid it will just gather dust. I almost unpacked it today, but a part of me is afraid to just give up.”

“A packed bag, like running away?” he asked, and Caitris nodded.

“I don’t think I can do it. Not like I would have anywhere to go either.”

“Whatever you need Cait, whether it’s a group of irritated chickens let loose or someone to help you run away, just know that I’ll be there,” Fenaren said, placing a warm hand on her shoulder. For the first time that night, she smiled and brought her forehead to his.

“Thanks Fen.” As she backed up, she saw her brother’s eyes widen as they looked behind her. She discreetly turned to look and saw a pretty elf with bouncy brown curls and a sly smirk walk past. She looked knowingly to her brother who was now thoroughly distracted.

“It’s only fair that one of us gets lucky tonight brother,” she said, and he looked to her with a mischievous smile she knew all too well. The familiar sight restored a feeling of calm to her nerves.

“You bet your ass I’m getting lucky tonight Cait,” he said, and with a smile disappeared back into the crowd, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

The time between her brother chasing a pretty face and her parent’s stern glances her way was all too short. As their intense green eyes bore into hers, she felt herself retreat away within herself. They came and took her by the arms, saying a lot of things. All she heard was the word ‘betrothed.’ The world around her began to narrow as she felt her heart stutter and her stomach twist. She couldn’t let the nobles see, or she wouldn’t be allowed to leave her chambers. Any misplaced word earned her extra hours with the tutors, stuck learning a new language, or a trainer pushing her beyond her physical limits. The rest of the room started to blur, and she focused on what she could feel.

A necklace tied tight around her neck. The cold feeling of silver of her circlet on her forehead branding her as a noble. Hair pulled back so tight that she had a permanent headache. She remained silent as her parents led her around, dressed up like the dolls she never played with. Smile through the pain, greet the rich merchants, allow yourself to be led through the crowd. Tonight is not about you, she told herself. Even if it was to celebrate her impending marriage, it was always about the politics. Today was about the politics, and tomorrow was her wedding day.

Allowed, because everything she did was done with permission beforehand. Not allowed anything that could tarnish her family’s name, she must uphold her honor. Nameless faces pass, dresses of gold and purple, and while Caitris knew her uncomfortably restricting dress had been specially tailored for tonight, she wanted to rip it off every second since it was put on, public nudity be damned. 

Her brother Fenaren was somewhere in this crowd and she knew that he would have no problem sneaking her away. The two of them could get piss drunk in a tavern outside the wealthy quarter, celebrating life and exploring what a normal life could be like. But tonight would not be one of those nights she realized, as she was finally confronted with the man she was supposed to marry.

She noticed his decorated, pierced ears first. A sign of his family’s successful merchant business, and a sign of extreme wealth. She recalled the barkeep she had become friends with, her older, wrinkled ears had gold rings, and a hoop, each handcrafted. Earrings said more about an elf than most would expect. One of the reasons she had none.

Between the rich fabric from his robes, to the decorated rapier at his side, Caitris felt her hair stand on end, and not in a good way. His dark hair was too slicked back, and his dark eyes piercing. Her lover’s eyes had been brown and filled with warmth. This man’s were icy and calculating as they bore into hers.

“Heletris, Kealen, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. This must be Caitris,” the man in front of her said to her parents.

“Yes, she is. It’s a pleasure Varan, to finally meet you,” Heletris said, pushing her daughter forward almost like an offering. Caitris just looked to the floor, of course her parents would pick someone who fits their own view of the world.

“We will leave you two alone for a bit to talk while we go back to the party guests,” Kealen said, in a voice that said there would be no questions, even though Caitris wanted to hurl at the thought of being alone with him.

She didn’t move as she heard a door behind them close with a final thud. She was along with a stranger.

“We’re to be married tomorrow,” he said as a statement.

“So they keep telling me.” Caitris kept her speech as short as possible. She didn’t know Varan at all, and she felt the anxiety well up within her.

“You don’t seem pleased,” he said, and her eyes snapped up. Appearances were to be kept up, no matter her feelings on the matter. The game must be played.

“That is not the case. I am just unsure how to approach this,” Caitris said, her eyes meeting his for only a second. It was all she could stand as her flight instincts were trying to kick in.

“I’m not any better at this. While this whole thing will be educational,” he took two steps toward her, “I am pleased my parents were not exaggerating at the beauty of the daughter of the famed Vellan family. Your ancestors have fought in every war for the past 800 years,” he took another two steps closer, she could no longer look anywhere where he didn’t fill her vision, “Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that legacy?” he asked, taking a rough hold of her chin.

Pictures flashed through her mind. Not memories, but flashes of what could be.

A second passed, and she closed her eyes.

Taking his hand in a moment, saying their vows tomorrow. Dressed in dresses for the rest of her life, unable to see her brother. Political meetings at his side, helpless as she saw him weave his influence into her family, an outsider using her to make demands of her family. Her family asking for an heir, of which she had no say. A child she would bear that would have his same piercing eyes, a child she wouldn’t be able to teach to care for others. The alliance created by their families giving her parents the influence they wanted in the senate, and Varan’s family the connections they need for their business to expand further into the wilds, and beyond to the coastlands.

She saw Fenaren cry as men in painted, ornate masks took him away. He would return 20 years later, his lively green eyes dulled and unfamiliar. Unfamiliar complacency as her parents made him their knife in the dark, nothing more than a fanged dog. The life they had lived together falling into shambles as they split apart, led into the lives they were meant to live. They would never be free.

This was not what she wanted.

When her eyes opened, she looked down and saw her knuckles bleeding, and Varan moaning curled up on the floor. He was holding his mouth in pain. She had cut her hand on his teeth when the punch had connected. It burned.

Her breath shortened. She had about thirty seconds before someone figured out something was wrong.

Red drapes at two corners, a bust of her great uncle, and a gold candelabra. Only two doors, and both led to the party.

She looked down and saw Varan getting up, fury in his eyes, and she grabbed the candelabra and slammed it over his head.

She ran.

Out the door, pushing through the crowd, questions and cries start to emerge. She’s been discovered.

She rips off the bottom half of her dress and chucks her heels out the window, breaking the glass. She can run faster now.

The guards show up in front of her, and she sees her parents, wide eyed and staring in shock behind her. She looks to the right, a pair of warm brown eyes caught hers from the crowd. Samran. The man she’d fallen in love with despite their standing, despite her impending marriage. Before she could say something, yells of the guards echoed behind her. She looks to the left, at the window broken by her heels and bolts. Covering her face with her hands, the glass breaks further as her body slams against it.

She’s falling.

But she knows the estate by heart, having barely left it in the past 90 years, and she hits the deep freshwater pond just below. The cold slams against her skin, but as she breaches the surface, she has never felt more alive.

She pulls herself out of the water and is faced with an interesting sight.

“Fenaren?” she asks once her jaw is off the ground.

“Oh, uh… hey sis. Why did you just…” her brother greets her, his hands full of a pretty elven woman that had been one of the waitstaff for the party.

“There’s no time, I just cancelled my own wedding,” she said, all the hesitation in her voice gone.

“Wait, what?!” he said, his voice rising in pitch.

“I’m running away. I can’t stay here Fen, its killing me,” she said, and her brother’s eyes hardened as reality sunk in.

“Do you think you could give us a minute?” he asked the very confused woman, and she nodded, walking back to the estate.

“What did you do to have to jump out a window?” he asked.

“I met my fiancé.”

“Oh. Is he like them?”

“He’s a clone of every gods-damned noble in this city, and once I’m married I’ll never leave the city again. I want to see the world Fen, and I want you to come with me.” The words fell from her mouth faster and clearer than she had ever felt them. 

“I was planning on bedding that lovely woman tonight but this is bigger than us Cait, our parents won’t let us back here after we run away. This is the last chance you’ll have to make up with them for the next few hundred years most likely.”

“I know this, and I’m prepared. We’ve been learning how to fight since the day we were born. How about instead of sitting here in our estate while the world goes on without us, we fight? There have been whispers of an invading clan of orcs, we could hunt them down together!” she said, her voice almost pleading. If her brother didn’t join her, she didn’t know if she could make it. Her chest felt warm as she saw a shit-eating grin cross his face.

“Ok Cait. I’ll do it with you, come on, it’ll be quicker if we cut through the stables. I’m assuming you have a few things you’d like to grab?” he asked, she nodded.

“Time to put that mace to use,” she said with a grin on her face, “you can go grab your daggers as well Fen.”

“I’ve got a better idea.”

\---------

Caitris was on her horse at the gate, waiting on her brother. The fear of him getting caught was at the front of her mind, and it was only minutes before the guards were bound to find her. She felt free, dressed in scale mail with a simple sword and shield she found in the stables. She had grabbed a crossbow out of a display cabinet before she had run to the stables, just something to have in case.

After a moment, she saw a man running fast, with several armed guards in pursuit. She turned the horse, holding out her hand as her brother ran up, clad in leather armor with their grandfather’s daggers at his side, and grabbed her hand.

With all the strength she could muster, she pulled him up behind her on the horse.

“You stole Grandfather’s daggers? We’ll never be allowed to show our faces here again!” she said, a huge grin on her face.

“Isn’t that the point?” he asked, and she laughed. With a sharp kick, the horse whinnied and galloped ahead at full speed.

As the guards reached the spot where they had been, the two siblings were well on their way towards the unknown.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of a series of stories I’m going to post about the Vellan family! For a bit of clarity, they are a family of high elf warriors from which Cait and Fen belong. Their family, without giving too much away, is part of a crime network and they often deal in shady deals. More fics to come soon!


End file.
